Purified: Hopes and Regrets
by ihewser
Summary: Just another quick short story that I came up with on the fly about the lone wanderer and the sole survivor. If anybody likes it, of course, then I'll make it into a full blown story. Also, I did minimal in my effort to revise so don't be too harsh on any grammatical errors.


Sometimes, when he's alone and doing nothing, the lone wanderer thinks back to his decision to let Sarah Lyons give her life to purify the waters. He thinks back to how much talking and convincing it took to have her go in rather than him and at the time he was very grateful for her sacrifice because it meant that he could continue living. Now, though, he regrets it. The Capital Wasteland is no place to live, even with safe drinking water. It's still just as grim, dangerous, and crazy a place as it was before. If he could go back in time and do what Sarah Lyon's did, he would in a heartbeat.

All the wanderer does these days is lie around in Megaton and study either the night sky or his ceiling, and he hates it. He has nobody to talk to and nobody to laugh with. The wanderer is lonely and bored.

One day, however, something actually happened. As he was lying on his bed counting the number of rivets in his floor, the wanderer heard an explosion. It sounded very loud, as if it was right outside his house. He puts on his duster and boots, picks up his Lincoln Repeater and heads to the front door. He turned the knob and pulled. Nothing happened. He tried again, harder this time but for some reason, the door was jammed shut. After trying a third time he became frustrated and took aim at the lock with his rifle. Just as he was about to shoot, the door swung open with the force of a howitzer, and knocked him onto his back, causing him to lose his breath.

"Get up, kid. We've got work to do." The wanderer heard a very gruff yet handsome voice from where the door used to be. He looked up and saw a person wearing Brotherhood issue power armor standing there. If he wasn't surprised at their ability to break doors, then he was dumbfounded at the fact that their armor was completely unscathed and shinier than any other piece of metal he's seen in the Capital Wasteland.

The wanderer was completely confused and couldn't say much other than, "what?"

"I said, get up. I've heard much about you so I know you know how to walk."

Standing up and dusting himself off, the wanderer asked, "who are you? What do you want?"

"I'll answer all your questions later. Just know that where we're going is a lot more exciting than here." The tin man pulled out a flare and threw it behind him, out into the dark night.

Over the man's shoulder, the wanderer could see the silhouette of a vertibird hovering over the platform outside of his house. The tin man turned and walked toward the vertibird. "Wait!" The wanderer hurried in front of the man. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to the Commonwealth. Elder Max thinks you'd be a great asset." The tin man said this quickly and matter of factly and then continued walking.

"And who are you?"

"Just cmon, you're wasting time."

The wanderer yawned and said, "well then, I'm not coming."

Faster than anyone currently wearing power armor should be able to, the tin man turned to face the wanderer. Then he put his hands up to his helmet and began to take it off. As his rugged, scarred features began to show, the tin man stepped closer to the wanderer. Finally, the helmet was off and the wanderer saw the entire picture. For some reason, he looked like a man from a different time. "My name," the man started, "is Nate. Now, let's get going before my father does something he might regret."

And just like that, the wanderer was glad he hadn't taken Sarah's place all those years ago. The wanderer was starting to get old but this is what he lived for. Not knowing what was going to happen next, he boarded the vertibird.

* * *

The lone wanderer and the sole survivor headed to the Commonwealth, where a new journey for the wanderer was to begin. He only checked to make sure he had his Lincoln Repeater and that his Pip-Boy was functional, and then he dozed off.


End file.
